BBB seminar: Jacob B. Hansen

Jacob B. Hansen
Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Brown adipose tissue is a promising therapeutic target in metabolic disorders due to its ability to dissipate energy and improve systemic insulin sensitivity and glucose homeostasis. β-adrenergic stimulation of brown adipocyte activity triggers a signaling cascade that leads to induction of a thermogenic gene program as well as increases in fuel oxidation and oxygen consumption. Recently, we have focused on two aspects of brown adipocyte biology: 1) regulation of glucose metabolism; 2) identification and characterization of novel signaling components involved in the response to β-adrenergic stimulation.

I will present our recent data on the transcriptional regulation of glycolysis, the relevance of glucose as a thermogenic fuel, and kinase inhibitor screens to identify novel kinases involved in β-adrenergically induced thermogenic gene expression.
 

Chairperson: Marit Bakke <marit.bakke@uib.no>, Department of Biomedicine